Comedian Jack Black Talks About His Childhood and Struggles in Letting His Teen Son Move Out

Jack Black School of Rock Tenacious D in the Pick of Teny Gulliver's Travels Tanya Haden Jumanji Actor

By Camille Hutchison , Parent Herald Jul 31, 02:05 am

Jack Black is an American actor and producer known for his comic roles in the movies "School of Rock," "Tenacious D in the Pick of Teny," and "Gulliver's Travels." He is also known for his voice-over roles in the Kung Fu Panda franchise.

Black was selected to appear in a commercial for a video game titled Pitfall in 1982. He studied at Culver City High School and Poseidon School and later attended Crossroads High School for Arts & Sciences, Santa Monica. Although Black grew up in Culver City, California, just miles from Hollywood, he didn't grow up in show business. Born to two full-time aerospace engineers, he describes his parents as unconventional and progressive.

The comedian said that his parents never told him "No," and there wasn't a lot of discipline. He describes his upbringing as a 60s era, free-thinking, new age with both advantages and disadvantages. It was a little chaotic, but it was also a lot of fun, and the actor was able to express himself and his creativity in cool ways.

The comedian didn't think he wanted to be a parent himself

While he has no complaints about his childhood, he feels that there are some things he'd like to try to make things a little different. He thinks it is only natural for parents to take the good and try to prevent the pitfalls their own parents might have fallen into.

The dad of two said that he didn't imagine becoming a parent because when he was working on the "School of Rock" movie, he was opposed to tying the knot and having a child. He thought then that he was not having kids and not getting married as it was not for him.

Jack recalls being intimidated by the child actors he was working with, but when they got on the set and had their first read-through with the cast, he thought it was all magical and claimed that it would work as they were on the same team.

"And I was like, 'What was I afraid of? I was born for this role 'cause I'm like a kid'," says the actor.

It ended up being a good lesson for the star, and he noted that just because you're afraid of a thing doesn't mean it's not going to be great, and for the actor, it was the best thing in his career, per Parents.

Getting more quality time with his teenage sons

Black, who shares teen sons, Samuel and Thomas, with his wife, Tanya Haden, noted that these days, he is grappling with squeezing in family time.

They liked to jam out a lot, listen to music, and dance around to music when the boys were younger, but now that they are teenagers, they can't stand my musical taste. They often wear headphone and doesn't even let me hear what they're listening to, says the actor.

The "Jumanji" actor said that transitioning to teenhood is not easy. He and his kids have had fun adventures, but it gets harder to get quality time with them as they get older because they've grown out of kids' activities. When he told his son that he was still his child and asked if they could still go to Disneyland, his son told him that it was not cool anymore. On the other hand, Black understands that it is just part of growing up, and you got to let them gradually leave the nest.